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Another Round in the Coleman-Franken Stand-Off

By Michael Falcone January 21, 2009 3:21 pmJanuary 21, 2009 3:21 pm

Outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Al Franken sported a thick Russian-style winter hat as he settled in to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama. Inside the Capitol, there is still no office with his name on it.

That didn’t stop Mr. Franken, the Democrat and entertainer, from circulating a statement that hinted at the prospect of “working together” with the newly sworn-in president.

“Like so many others, I have been inspired by our new president to look towards the future with optimism, and with the knowledge that there is nothing we can’t accomplish together,” he said.

Mr. Franken’s own future, however, is in the hands of a three-judge panel in Minnesota that will hear arguments on Wednesday from both sides in the election contest filed by former Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican, who trailed at the conclusion of a statewide recount. Their first order of business will be to consider the Franken campaign’s argument that the contest should be thrown out before a trial begins.

If the judges disagree, the trial phase is expected to begin on Monday and the panel will weigh Mr. Coleman’s contention that the recount process was flawed and the results should be invalidated against Mr. Franken’s claim that the election is over. At the end of the recount Mr. Franken led by 225 votes.

The Democrat’s lawyers have been arguing that his certificate of election should be signed by the governor and secretary of state in Minnesota immediately, a move that would pave the way for seating Mr. Franken in the United States Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, said on Wednesday that he would be monitoring the deliberations of the panel and raised the possibility of provisionally seating Mr. Franken.

“There is no way that Coleman can win this,” Mr. Reid said. “The numbers just aren’t there. He should concede.”

But Mr. Coleman, who relinquished his Senate seat earlier this month, expressed confidence that the panel would eventually rule in his favor.

And, by the way, Mr. Coleman offered his own words of congratulations for President Barack Obama too.

“Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States will forever be etched into the minds of so many of us as one of those moments for which you remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened,” Mr. Coleman said in a statement yesterday.

The Minnesota and National RNC still do not get it. Mr. Franken won based upon the recount and the numerous challenges the GOP, and Mr. Coleman, have launched. Imagine what the Republicans would have done in other close races? The “win at all costs” mantra failed in the November elections big time. The GOP went down because they help mastermind the economic disaster befalling the United States, the culture and social wars to divide America and the fear tactics to scare America. Eight years of this rhetoric was enough for Americans to take.

The GOP, and Mr., Coleman, should concede the race. Minnesotans need to have both Senators. The country needs to move on and this circus side show only delays the business of the American people.

Where, oh, where now are the Replutocrats who so often said of Al Gore and the Democrats “You lost; we won. Get over it”? Mmm… mewling and puking, or so it would seem. Drowned in a sea of crocodile tears like so many kittens with distemper, I suspect.

The vote was within the margin of error. It’s a tie. You might get a different winner with each recount. Run the election again at the next opportunity. Of course, you could have said the same with Bush v. Gore, but you can’t do without a president — we can live without a senator for a few months.

Come to think of it, a revote in Florida 3 weeks after the fact would have settled things a lot more clearly, and avoided some of the animus over the next 8 years.

Former Sen. Coleman was classless to Andy Dawkins in their mayoral race. Still can’t believe Jesse beat him in the Governors race. Won his Senate seat when his opponent died a week before the election. He voted for tort reform yet refuses to practice it. He still will be involved in an ethics investigation if he ever makes it back to Washington. All the while i’m one Senator down. C’mon Norm concede!

“Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States will forever be etched into the minds of so many of us as one of those moments for which you remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened,” Mr. Coleman said in a statement yesterday.

In the future, when I think about what I was doing when I was watching Barack Obama being sworn in, I will always remember what I was doing when it happened: I was watching Barack Obama being sworn in.

With luck the judges will refuse to hear Coleman’s bogus claim and Minnesota and the country can get on with the business of cleaning up Bush’s mess and building a better future for America. One guy who deserves to be part of that is Al Franken. He raised a voice against Republican policies and propaganda years ago.

How about they share the Senate job in the spirit of President Obama’s InauguralAdddress in which he lauded those who voluntarily cut their hours on the job so a colleague can keep their job too. Frankel can play Senator one month Coleman the next again and again over and over for the next 6 years.
If one f them is busy with something else or wants some extra time off to take a long vacation they can work something out.

Sorry Norm. But this can’t be any more embarrassing than losing to a pro- wrestler. Not to mention barely winning against a guy who ran for only a week after the sad death of Sen. Wellstone. Take your own election night advice when you said you’d concede in the same situation… Now you get to add a SNL writer to the list of people you lost to.

Geez, without the Blagoyovich/Burris farce as counterweight, this is started to get pretty old and stupid. Especially now that play time is over and it’s time to start solving some problems.

But I begrudgingly admit Coleman has the right to pursue his case as far as the system allows. I expected no less from Gore in 2000, so I guess I have to muzzle my complaints now. And if that constitutional crisis didn’t trigger major reform of the system, then we can’t expect this side show will either.

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